Friday, June 09, 2006

Feliz and Niekro...separated at birth

Pedro Feliz. Lance Niekro. These two really are the exact same hitter. Really. I mean it. Read on!

Well, wait. (teaser)

Before I get into the comparison, Niekro's last 13 games are weird. In five of those games, Niekro put up a total 0-fer -- no hits, no walks, no contribution to the offense in 20 at-bats.

In the other eight games (including last night), he's World Beater. 19 for 35, 3 walks, 3 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 home runs.

What does it all mean? Nothin'. And that's kind of the point. It should mean something, but with Niekro a home run and a strikeout can come at any point...and none of us have clue in the first as to when those points will be from at-bat to at-bat.

Onto the meat of this here entry. Here are some career stats for Feliz and Niekro, Feliz's stats first and Niekro's 2nd:

Pitches Per Plate Appearance (P/PA): 3.37/3.49
Walks Per Plate Appearance (BB/PA): .48/.59
Walk to Strikeout Ratio (BB/SO): .27/.37
Isolated Power (ISO SLG): .185/.186
Career Line: .257/.292/.442 vs. .254/.298/.440
Ground Ball to Fly Ball Ratio (GB/FB): 1.14/.99
Secondary Average (Uh, no abbreviation): .237/.245
At-Bats per Home Run (AB/HR): 25.2/26.6

That's about as close as you can get, folks. Niekro's numbers are tempered somewhat by having a lot less career at-bats, but if you think he's going to become some vastly different hitter sometime soon...well, let me have a hit before you smoke it all up -- me wanna see da pritty cullers, brudder.

Thus, I dub them Feast or Famine Feliz and All or Nuttin' Niekro.

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